All crews are sleeping in tents again tonight .... regular tents, rather than the luxurious yurts ... so communication media are limited. Despite today´s ordeal and the post-arrival exhaustion, Clive managed to send a dispatch by SMS. It arrived late in my afternoon, so quite late in his night. And if the written word could slur from tiredness, his SMS would have slurred. If the written word could tremble from apprehension, his SMS would have trembled.
After 12 hours of driving, over the worst roads that Clive had ever seen, he and Ces arrived at Uliastay (still in Mongolia) with the top and bottom radiator mounts re-smashed. While I gather that the outdoor shower at the riverbank campsite was better than expected, Clive was struggling to put the image of a large Mongolian truck out of his mind. Earlier in the day, they narrowly avoided a head-on collision with the truck which was completely on Clive and Ces´ side of the road.
Clive´s message ended very uncharacteristically ... by saying that his new goal was to cruise to Paris. I have no medical background, but my guess is that exhaustion was speaking. I´m sure that Car 72 will be back in competitive mode after a good night´s sleep. Mind you, that good night´s sleep might not materialise until they next sleep in a real hotel. And the next hotel is not scheduled until Wednesday 22nd when they spend a single night in Russia.
In the overall standings, Clive and Ces have moved quite a bit up the leadership board. Balancing Clive´s update against the official report, my guess is that attrition had more impact today than raw speed. So when Ces takes the crew of Car 72 through her checklist tomorrow (including a check of the leadership board) the Dunsters will be inspired to something more than cruising tomorrow.
Sleep well, Clive and Ces ....
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| The reality of tonight´s sleep |
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| Clive´s mind as sleep completes its repair job ... |
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